WINNIPEG, Manitoba (Reuters)  A Saskatchewan man has become Canada's first victim of the human strain of mad cow disease, but the patient probably contracted variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (vCJD) in Britain rather than in North America, Health Canada officials said Thursday.

The man, who has not been named, died in hospital in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, one of Canada's key agricultural provinces, after contracting the lethal brain-wasting disease.

Provincial officials would not say when the man died. They also would not not name him or give his age, because of patient confidentiality concerns.

"Health Canada has received confirmation of the first case of variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease recorded in Canada," said Andrew Swift, a spokesman for the federal health department.

"However all evidence points to the patient having acquired the disease in the United Kingdom. There is no evidence to suggest that bovine spongiform encephalopathy, commonly known as BSE, has entered the Canadian food supply."

New variant CJD is a rare, fatal, degenerative disorder that has been linked to eating meat from cattle infected with BSE, or mad cow disease.

There have been no cases of BSE in native cattle in North America. In 1993, Canada reported BSE in a single cow imported from Britain. That animal and its herdmates were destroyed.

Like the United States, Canada no longer imports animals or meat products from countries where there is a BSE risk.

About 115 cases of vCJD have been reported in Europe, most of them in Britain, where scientists warned last month that dozens of Britons would die from the disease this year.

Last April, the United States reported its first suspected case of vCJD: a 22-year-old British woman living in Florida. U.S. officials said she, too, most likely contracted the disease while living in Britain.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture said Thursday it was waiting for official details from Canada before taking "appropriate action."

"It is too premature to say anything further until we get official notification from Canada on what the circumstances are," said Alisa Harrison, a USDA spokeswoman.

About half the beef produced in Canada is consumed domestically. Among the world's top beef marketers, about 70% of Canada's beef exports are sold to the U.S.

Shares of McDonald's, Yum Brands and other U.S. fast-food chains serving beef products initially fell sharply on news of the Canadian victim.

Agricultural futures traders in Chicago reacted with relief to statements the victim did not contract the disease at home.

"The only way that it would be a market factor was if he ate some beef in Canada and got sick," said Chuck Levitt, a livestock analyst with Alaron Trading.

"This is really not a Canadian beef issue," said Cindy McCreath, a spokeswoman for the Alberta-based Canadian Cattleman's Association.

McCreath declined to comment further, awaiting a news conference in Saskatoon by provincial and federal health authorities scheduled for later Thursday.

The largest U.S. cattle organization also said there was no need for consumers to be alarmed.

The Saskatoon StarPhoenix newspaper quoted regional health officials as saying the victim had spent some time in Britain.

There was an "extremely remote" chance that medical equipment used for tests on the victim might have been contaminated with vCJD, and 70 other patients had been warned about the risks.

Canada's elk ranching industry has been devastated by the discovery in 1996 of chronic wasting disease, a disorder similar to mad cow disease. Three cases of CWD have been detected in wild deer in Saskatchewan, most recently in June.